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(Sorry that this is a rather long post, but I feel like all of this needs to be said)

I'm very sorry that I've been rather quiet here.

This year was like a filler episode in my life to me. After this year has been and gone, I felt like I haven't accomplished a lot of things I wanted to do this year, and yet a few good things have happened:

I fixed my threadbare office chair I've sat on for about a decade (learned a bit about upholstery)

I got my very first paid job (and it's language related!)

Among a few little other things...

But...

So much has changed about me personally. My interests have shifted, and I've been going through an identity crisis. This year has been more of a year of understanding myself better and figuring out what kind of person I am and want to be. After much research throughout the year (and a little bit in 2013) I feel like I'm one step closer to knowing who I am (especially career-wise)

Speaking about my changing self, I will be going by a new nickname starting in the new year, which I will be watermarking my artworks with. I'm still experimenting with the name, but it will be final sometime in the new year. With my older works that I labeled with my previous name, it's okay if I'm referred to by my old nickname, but if you know about my new name, please refer to me by the new name.

This self-searching also explained why I haven't drawn much lately, since it's something I didn't have much motivation and time for this year. My interests have shifted towards different hobbies, some that might be less stressful for me compared to drawing all the time (while I enjoy drawing when I'm in the mood for it, I can get creatively drained fairly quickly, and having a main hobby or career in art would be too stressful for me)

What will this mean for my comic and drawings in the future? I don't know. But what I can say for certain is that I needed this break from drawing. I have thought about my comic every now and then, and I still want to bring it to life somehow. I don't want to give up on this idea. Luckily during my hiatus, I've come up with some small comic ideas that I will introduce soon (some of these comics will finally introduce my characters from my comic!)

Since I have a rough idea about what I want to do in the near future, I'm going to, starting next year, work towards that goal (and come up with other plans in case I change my mind later). It might mean a little more art than what I did in 2014, and hopefully a more self-confident me.

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As for my comic, for those who have been waiting for it… I’m really sorry that I've constantly delayed it further and further. I hoped that by reminding myself now and then to work on it by giving it a deadline, it would be a good enough motivation for me to work on it and get it finished. While I have started the first few pages, drawing them felt more like a chore than fun and I kept taking breaks from it. The fact that I had a lot of schoolwork to do didn't help either, and because of this, my drawing life had to take a backseat until I was finished with school.

Lately I've been giving my story a bit of thought. I really don’t want to give up on it, because I've been wanting to tell this story for a while. But my current method of creating it hasn't been working out for me. Especially after not drawing for a while, I need to try a different tactic that will get the story out there without it being too difficult for me.

Part of the problem I learned was that my comic won’t work as a full-blown comic with full pages and chapters. Organizing it like this made it more disorganized instead.

Since I've thought up some quick ideas that would work in mini (4-panel) comics, I decided I would start up with those first to get myself comfortable with comic-making again, and make smaller, full-page “chapters” for the story line afterwards.

I feel rather silly for having to explain myself, but I think I should identify the problem and figure out a new smaller plan instead of jumping into a big project I’m not ready for.

I’m not going to post updates on my progress (because I feel really bad making promises I can’t keep, and my plans tend to change a lot) and instead surprise you with the comics themselves.

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I will also be travelling to the UK again for the winter holidays. We haven't finalized a specific plan yet, so I can't say much about what I'll be doing this time.

I'm not sure if I'll be visiting online while I'm over there (If I do, I probably won't visit as frequently, because I need a break from the internet for a little bit)

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TL;DR version: I'm a different person now, I was busy focusing on school the past year, interests changed, but I might draw a little more often in the future. I'm also travelling during the winter holidays.